Apple appoints Nokia’s Ashish Chowdhary as Country Manager for India

Apple has appointed Ashish Chowdhary as its new Country Manager for India. He will join in January 2019, according to media reports. Chowdhary will succeed Michel Coulomb.

Chowdhary had been associated with Nokia as the Chief Customer Operations Officer (CCOO).

He had joined Nokia in December 2003 and had also been part of the company’s executive board of Nokia Networks and NSN since 2009. Chowdhary has also served as Head of Global Services at Nokia Siemens Networks and Vice President for Enterprise Business at Hughes Communications Ltd.

Global media agency network Mindshare has announced two major appointments to its leadership structure in Asia Pacific.

The first is the elevation of Prashant Modi to become their Asia Pacific Chief Operating Officer (COO). The second appointment is that of Rohan Lightfoot as the Chief Growth Officer (CGO) of Mindshare Asia Pacific.

Modi, who was previously Chief Commercial Officer for Mindshare in Asia Pacific, will take on the broader responsibility of managing the Singapore hub and working with Mindshare Asia Pacific CEO Amrita Randhawa on future-proofing the overall company structure and offering.

Modi has been with the agency and GroupM for over 16years working across both GroupM and Mindshare in its India and regional office in Singapore. He is widely credited within the agency as a key reason for the company’s consistent delivery across the region.

Commenting on the appointment, Randhawa said, “There are few people who care about our people and our company as much as Prashant. He is the beating heart of Mindshare and one of our absolutely finest minds. I am delighted that this role is going to give him the canvas he deserves to make an even bigger impact on our organisation and on our people.”

Speaking on his elevation, Modi said “16 years with Mindshare and it still is a dream place to work with great colleagues and clients. Mindshare has always provided a very open atmosphere to fuel personal growth and I am looking forward to continuing to contribute to our achievements and growing our business further.”

As the Chief Growth Officer of Mindshare Asia Pacific, Rohan Lightfoot’s role is focused on developing high growth opportunities for new and existing clients with an emphasis on new products, innovation and digitization.

Lightfoot has over 20 years’ experience across the region, based out of Singapore and in China, US and UK. Most recently he was with Isobar working on clients such as Pernod Ricard, Adidas, Yum!, Unilever and Coca Cola.

Speaking on Lightfoot’s appointment Randhawa said “Rohan’s been on my must-hire list for years! He is uniquely placed having spent solid time in China, having a blend of creative, media and digital craft experience as well as working on some of the region’s biggest accounts. He understands the changes that the agency needs to deliver in order to continue to be a valued partner for our clients.”

Speaking on the move to Mindshare, Lightfoot said, “I am so excited to be taking on this new role. It’s a perfect fit for my experiences and passions in my career. The breadth and depth of capability at Mindshare is staggering. The challenge of keeping the world’s leading media agency always ahead was impossible to turn down. I’m already loving being part of the team that Amrita is building.”

Both roles are based in the agency’s regional Singapore office and effective immediately.

Essence, a data and measurement-driven media agency and part of GroupM, has announced that it will take on integrated media agency of record duties for Airtel, effective January 1, 2019. The agency’s scope of work will include both offline and digital media strategy, planning and buying.

Airtel's media mandate is currently managed by Team Airtel, a bespoke client solution created by GroupM three years ago. The 30-member team will transition to Essence and continue to service the account. The Airtel business will be led by Yoginder Jain, Vice President, Client Servicing, India at Essence, supported by key practice leads across communications strategy, data strategy, client analytics, integrated media planning and media activation, the agency said in a statement. The move will leverage the agency’s data, digital and integrated media capabilities as well as full-service offering to deliver the next level of evolution for Airtel’s media strategy.

Talking about the development, Sam Singh, CEO, South Asia at GroupM, said, “We are happy to further consolidate our relationship with an inspiring brand like Airtel. As Airtel moves forward in this ever-evolving industry, Essence is an excellent match to lead the relationship and help the brand find even more success. I am confident that Essence, with its strength of data, measurement and technology at the core of its integrated media offering, will deliver creative and innovative business, marketing and communications solutions to take Airtel to the next level.”

Anand Chakravarthy, Managing Director, India at Essence, said, “We are delighted to partner with Airtel. Airtel is one of India’s most valuable brands and the opportunity to help shape its future success is truly exciting. The addition of talent into Essence is also a huge win for us, as we continue to strengthen our team, product and full-service offerings in the market. Airtel is a force to be reckoned with in the telecommunications sector, and we look forward to further support it in earning even more meaningful, effective and relevant connections with its customers.”

Executive Creative Director and Executive Vice President of Contract Advertising India, Mayur Hola, has put in his papers at the agency according to media reports. This was his second stint at Contract.

Hola joined Contract in 2013 as the Executive Creative Director. Previously he worked with McCann, where he had worked on award winning campaigns such as Pan Vilas’ ‘Shauq Badi Cheez Hai’ and the Nescafé - Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy work, for which his team won an integrated Abby and the Marketing Campaign of the Year at the CMO Asia Awards.

Hola started his career in advertising with McCann as a writer, where he spent close to seven years over three stints. At McCann, he launched the life insurance brand PNB MetLife with its ‘Be Double Sure’ work, conceived Dish TV’s ‘Dish Sawaar Hai’ campaign and carried forward the Chevy Cruze brand for GM, in addition to the Nescafé campaign.

Over the course of his career, Hola also worked with TBWA, where he headed the Delhi office, Grey and Contract.

Aditya Kanthy, Group Managing Director, DDB Mudra has been named to become CEO from next year, according to media reports.

Kanthy's appointment comes after the resignation of Group CEO, Vineet Gupta, Brijesh Jacob, Joint Managing Director, 22feet Tribal Worldwide and Chief Creative Technologist, DDB Mudra Group, and Deepak Nair, Chief Growth Officer, DDB Mudra Group and CEO of 22feet Tribal Worldwide from the organisation. Both Jacob and Nair had #MeToo accusations leveled against them earlier this year, however, it is not clear if their resignations were related to this.

It has been reported that the organisation is currently undergoing a restructuring process which will be unveiled in the coming weeks.

An alumnus of Harvard Business School, Bakshi comes with over two decades of experience across TV, Internet, media, telecom and consumer durable industries. He has a deep understanding of broadcast media & OTT, digital, mobile and FMCG industries, the company said in a statement.

Previously, Bakshi was the Chief Marketing Officer at Intex Technologies, where he led the brand strategy across four business verticals – smartphones, electronics, durables and accessories.

Prior to Intext, Bakshi was VP & Head Products & Marketing, India & South Asia, at Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, where he steered strategic development and localisation initiatives for a multi-channel portfolio for Discovery Channel serving 100+ million pay TV households.

Speaking about his new role, Bakshi says, “I am incredibly excited to join Big Synergy at this stage of the company's evolution into scripted shows, along with the non-scripted content. Content will fuel the next wave of growth in media. India is one of the rare markets where both television broadcast and OTT platforms continue to demonstrate robust growth. I am passionate about transformative disruptions that change consumer behaviour and will strive to create a competitive advantage and long-term value for the business and our esteemed clients.”

Shibasish Sarkar, Group COO, Reliance Entertainment, said, “We are happy to have Rajiv on board. He comes with a wealth of experience and domain expertise. With his extensive knowledge across the television and digital medium, we are confident that he will be able to further accelerate the growth of the entertainment sector within the group.”

At Big Synergy, Bakshi will take forward the mantle of enhancing multi-platform reach, driving strategic partnerships & developing the original content portfolio.

Content platform SHAREit has announced partnership with Hungama Play, a video-on-demand platform owned by Hungama. With this partnership, SHAREit will offer Hungama Play to its users, allowing them to enjoy Hungama Play’s enormous SVOD (Subscription video on demand) and AVOD (Ad-based video on demand) content archive. This will enable SHAREit users to explore a multi-lingual and multi-genre content bouquet consisting of movies, short films, short-format and long-format videos, and Hungama Originals.

SHAREit app has one of the most extensive content portfolios, from browsing online videos, creating one’s own playlist to downloading GIFs and sticker while Hungama Play offers video content across formats, genres and languages in the form of movies, short-format videos, long-format videos and original content.

Commenting on the partnership, Jason Wang, SHAREit CBO, Global Expansion and Strategic Partnerships, said, “It gives us immense pleasure to collaborate with Hungama Play, one of the leading video on demand platforms in the country. As SHAREit is building a strong content platform, our partnership with Hungama Play will benefit our users across India who will get access to a wide range of content in various languages that they can enjoy. We currently have over 400million users in India and our aim is to offer them with quality entertainment content.”

Siddhartha Roy, Chief Operating Officer, Hungama Digital Media, said, “At Hungama, we believe in offering our users an enriching experience that is backed by convenience and places the power of choice in the hands of the users. Our partnership with SHAREit will help us add a widely popular platform to our existing customer touchpoints. We are certain that SHAREit users will enjoy and appreciate our multi-genre, multi-lingual and original content library.”

Columbus India, digital marketing agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has been appointed as the social media agency for Peppa Pig and PJ Masks, popular animated television series for kids produced by Entertainment One. The account was won following a direct pitch and will be handled out of the agency’s Delhi office.

As part of the mandate, the assignment involves using Columbus India’s expertise in the digital ecosystem for managing the social mandate (Paid & Earned) for Peppa Pig and PJ Masks.

Commenting on the win, Debra Ng, VP, Marketing – Asia – Family and Brands, Entertainment One, said, “Peppa Pig and PJ Masks are much loved in India and we want to leverage social media to reach and engage with parents. We are happy to partner with SVG Columbus in this endeavor.”

Anurag Gupta, CEO –Columbus India, said, “We are very happy to partner with Entertainment One. What excites us the most is that we have the opportunity to create awareness amongst parents about how engaging the brands are for their children. PJ Masks is a nascent brand in India and there is huge potential given the popularity of both the brands globally.”

Nitin Sabharwal, Chief Business Officer, Columbus India, added, “Peppa Pig and PJ Masks are extremely popular with kids and we are excited to have them as our client. We are looking at delivering high social engagement and drive strong awareness for the brands.”

Digital marketing agency AdLift has appointed Manan Shah as Head- Client Services at its Mumbai office. Shah will manage AdLift’s Mumbai accounts and will directly report to Prashant Puri, Co-Founder and CEO.

Shah’s key responsibilities will be handling business development and operations for AdLift in Mumbai. He comes with over 7 years of extensive digital marketing experience across multiple verticals, including insurance, ecommerce, banking, technology and travel.

Commenting on the appointment, Prashant Puri, Co-Founder & CEO, AdLift, says, "I am delighted to have professionals like Manan join AdLift’s exciting journey to new heights in the digital world. Manan is a young mind and has a deep understanding of the need and impact of the digital space. I am sure he will add volume to the growing business of AdLift in the western and southern region and help us expedite our geographical growth."

Commenting on his new role, Shah says, "I'm glad to be a part of one of the most exciting digital agency. Spearheading complete operations of AdLift’s Mumbai office is a big opportunity for me, and I’m confident about delivering desired results that would help in wider growth of the company.”

Stef Calcraft has stepped down as Dentsu Aegis’ Executive Chairman for the UK and Ireland. He will be leaving the agency group less than a year after he joined.
Calcraft will be succeeded by Nick Waters, who is at present Chief Executive of Asia Pacific.

Dentsu Aegis Chief Executive EMEA Giulio Malegori said, “We thank Stef for his contribution–he leaves the UK business on a strong footing with a dynamic new leadership team in place.

“Nick has a strong track record of successfully leading a complex, diverse region for Dentsu Aegis Network and will help to set up the UK business for the future providing continuity for our clients, our people and the business, by assuming the executive chairman role.”

When Calcraft, Co-founder of the independent agency Mother, joined the advertising conglomerate he was not seen as the obvious choice. Despite his limited experience in media agencies, he was roped in to run the 4,000-strong UK and Ireland operations.

This year, Dentsu Aegis Network had a mixed record. It lost the UK government’s £150m media buying account and other major accounts, including GoCompare.co.uk and the AA.
However, it bagged Co-operative Group and Heineken and picked up Intel, while retaining Microsoft.

Calcraft’s departure comes as Jerry Buhlmann steps down as Global Chief Executive of Dentsu Aegis Network and Tim Andree, the Global Chairman, takes over as Executive Chairman.
In an interview earlier this month, he said he felt “very at home” at Dentsu Aegis Network’s business–which includes agencies such as Carat, Vizeum, iProspect and Merkle–but admitted the business was “not yet match-fit”.

Calcraft played down his lack of experience in media agencies and pointed instead to his knowledge of brands, particularly at Unilever, where he was a graduate trainee and rose to be a Persil brand manager. “I’m not a media guy. I’m not an ad guy either. I’m a brand and consumer business guy," he said.

The management shake-up comes in the wake of a number of senior departures for the advertising network. Last month, it had been reported that Dentsu Aegis Network's Chief Executive Jerry Buhlmann was to step down, whereas in October, 360i's Chief James Townsend also left the agency to join Forward3D. The network then announced a new leadership team for the UK and Ireland with three promotions and two appointments.

Havas Group India has appointed Manas Lahiri as General Manager, Havas Gurgaon. His mandate includes getting new business and managing overall operations of the Delhi branch, thus leveraging Havas Group’s integrated capabilities.
With more than 16 years of experience in advertising, Lahiri has worked with a number of agencies such as Contract Advertising, McCann, Ogilvy & Mather and Creativeland Asia.
Working across various sectors, including IT, Telecom, FMCG and Auto, he has managed renowned brands like General Motors, Google, Dabur Samsung, Motorola, Lenovo, Amazon, Shell, Acer, NIIT and Reliance.
Commenting on the appointment, Rana Barua, Group CEO, Havas Group India said, “For Havas India Advertising operations in North, we needed a driven and capable leader who is not only aligned with our vision of exponential growth in terms of winning new clients, attracting versatile talent and demonstrating our integrated strength, but is equally comfortable leading a strong Havas team and our partnership with Reckitt Benckiser. In Manas, we have the perfect leader who will help me drive both mandates and make our operations stronger, more relevant both externally and internally”.
On his appointment, Lahiri said, “I am very excited to be part of the Havas India team. The concept of ‘Better Together’ truly comes to life here with our various offerings from Havas and our partnering companies from Vivendi Group. We now need to strengthen our communication solutions to local and global clients. My focus will be on driving aggressive business growth, creating exciting work for our clients and building a team that lives up to Havas’s global standards of creativity.”